TTC 2013 - 1981 VW Rabbit

Matt Huit’s 1981 VW Rabbit had some of the most character out of all the TTC trucks this year. To be fair, it’s mounted on a ’77 Chevy Blazer frame and powered by a 454 c.i. Tuned Port Injected big block V8 that had more than enough grunt to spin it’s 54-inch Mickey Thompson TTC Baja Claw tires through pretty much anything. Matt’s original plan involved swapping in a Subaru Brat body on the Blazer frame but after having a hard time finding one, he ended up purchasing his buddy’s ’81 VW Rabbit for his project. The purple, white and black camouflage paint scheme might seem a bit odd at first but Matt tells us that he did that in honor of the day that he first met his wife. When he met her he was wearing a purple, white and black camouflage hat that he had bought earlier that day.

Matt struggled in the Frame Twister after getting crossed up on the parallel logs which put him out of bounds and ended his run. Despite that, Matt made up for it with a hard charging run through the Mud Pit. He was the first to take the plunge and the little Rabbit Pickup seemed unstoppable as it plowed through the bog with its 454 c.i. big block screaming. The next day, Matt seemed to have no trouble finding his way through the obstacle course and whenever the little Rabbit was in a tight spot, Matt would crab walk it through the trail with the rear steer setup. Matt had made his way back up the leaderboard and just obliterated the Coal Chute climbing over boulders and cement tubes like they were pebbles despite starting off stuck in two-wheel-drive. Matt tells us he had an epiphany that he had to at least give it a shot to try to complete the run. It was quite the spectacle watching the Rabbit field goal through the end of the Coal Chute’s slippery waterfall climb. During the their Tank Trap run, Matt and his co-driver Jared Harmer did an awesome job working their way up the menacing canyon but ended their run after flopping the Rabbit on its side in the fifth water hole. Although the setbacks in a few of their runs kept them from walking home with top honors, they did however put on a great show for everyone and managed the only finish in the incredibly tough and slippery Coal Chute which helped earn them a hard fought 2nd place finish.